Sir, – I wish to offer a point of information regarding the article "Van Gogh's gun on display in Amsterdam" (July 12th 2016). In the article, a museum official is quoted as making the suggestion that van Gogh died because the bullet from the self-inflicted gunshot wound was not retrieved due to the bullet being "too deep".
This is incorrect, as low-velocity bullets like the one that injured van Gogh typically do not require removal by a surgeon and may remain in the human body.
It is the injury caused while the bullet is in motion within the human body that may require treatment, such as bleeding or bowel content spillage. The bullet itself rarely causes problems once it comes to rest.
Most likely the low-velocity bullet wound would have punctured the bowel with spillage of contents after its downwards deflection, thereby creating sepsis over the 30-hour period that it took for the artist’s demise, with little to do with the fact that the bullet was not retrieved.
Simple closure and lavage of the injured cavity and bowel would most likely have sufficed, even in an era devoid of antibiotics. – Yours, etc,
MORGAN P McMONAGLE,
Consultant Vascular
and Trauma Surgeon,
University Hospital
Waterford.